Russell Westbrook on technical fouls: ‘I’m always the bad guy’

Rockets star Russell Westbrook is only three technicals away from a suspension, and he explains his displeasure with how he’s officiated.

After picking up two technical fouls (and an ejection) in Thursday’s blowout victory by the Rockets at Golden State, Houston star Russell Westbrook now leads the NBA with 13 technical fouls this season.

More importantly, that total of 13 means he can only accrue two more technical fouls before automatically being suspended for a game.

The one-game unpaid suspension is mandated once a player picks up 16 technical fouls in a single regular season, and then every second technical beyond that number (i.e. 18, 20) adds another suspension.

The count resets to zero before the playoffs, with seven as the postseason threshold for an automatic suspension.

Considering Houston (35-20) still has 27 games left to play, Westbrook needs to dramatically cut back his pace of technicals to avoid suspension. As the former MVP sees it, though, he’s often the victim of selective treatment from NBA officials based on his reputation and history, which includes a league-leading total of 16 technicals last season,

“You’ve obviously got to be aware of it,” Westbrook said postgame regarding his current total of 13 technical fouls on the 2019-20 season. “I’ll look at them and see which ones are real technical fouls and which ones are not. And then figure out how to do it. But, I’ll be fine.”

In Thursday’s game, Westbrook picked up his first technical during the first quarter for seeking a foul call after a drive to the rim.

In his postgame comments, the 2020 All-Star noted that he didn’t receive a single free throw attempt in the entire game.

I’m at the basket more than probably anybody since I’ve been in the league. I got no free throws today. But ideally I just got to keep going. … That’s just what it is. I’m okay with it. I’m a guy that’s going to compete every single night. I’ll go out and play my game and find ways to be effective. If they blow the whistle, they do. They don’t, who cares? I cannot allow it to affect who I am as a person and what I’m representing and who I am. So, that’s on me.

He was then called for another technical in the fourth quarter after he appeared to elbow Damion Lee and exchanged words with the Warriors bench. (Westbrook, however, said the elbow was unintentional.)

Westbrook explained:

I think it’s a situation where I hold myself to a very, very high standard. I think the refs, the fans, media, the NBA [are] put in a position now where I’m not really allowed to do much. Obviously, I’m an emotional guy. But if you watched the clip, obviously I hit Lee, but it wasn’t on purpose. I’m going to the glass, he got hit, he said something to me, I said something to him. I’m standing there, a guy [Juan Toscano-Anderson] came and snatched the ball out of my hands. Guys come running up to me, I didn’t move, but I’m always the one that gets painted to be the bad guy in the whole situation.

Westbrook said officials directed him to walk away from the situation and towards the Golden State bench, which he did, only to have a young plyer on that bench begin “talking mess” to him. One Warriors player who became involved was injured and plain-clothed star Klay Thompson.

I turned around and said, ‘What did you say?’ So now everybody’s running over to me, then I’m walking towards the thing, then [Kevon] Looney steps in front of me, so I feel like I’m in a position and it’s like, ‘Oh well, Russ is being Russ,’ which nobody knows what that means.

But I got to do a better job of holding myself accountable to a very, very high standard. And I’ll make sure I leave no room for error to allow somebody and people paint me out to be a guy that I’m not. I just think it’s unfair that after all that, I’m the only one that gets a tech or kicked out. That’s not fair. I don’t care what nobody says. It’s so many other people involved in it that are doing so many things that weren’t okay, but I’m the one that gets the tech, gets ejected, and then everybody else is cool, and goes back and play. But like I said, I take responsibility for that and I hold myself to a very high standard, which I’ll uphold.

Clearly, Westbrook believes that other players involved should also have faced punishment. But while he acknowledged that he needs to be smarter, Westbrook also said that he’s not going to back down.

I just got to control myself, that’s it, control myself. But I’m not backing down. I’m not. I wasn’t raised that way. So I don’t back to nobody, fear nobody but God, that’s it. Fear no man but God. I’ll always protect myself under any situation, but I also got to be smarter and understand what’s on the line for me. Or what’s my legacy, who’s watching me, my kids, my family. Make sure that I’m representing my family very, very well.

Prior to his ejection on Thursday, Westbrook tallied 21 points (10-of-19 shooting, or 52.6%) and 10 assists in 30 minutes.

Westbrook and the Rockets (35-20), who have now won six of their last eight games overall, return to action Saturday night at Utah (36-18) for what on paper is a crucial game in the race for Western Conference playoff seeding. Tip-off is scheduled for 8 p.m. Central time.

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